UDON THANI, Thailand (Reuters) - Steel girders jut from the low skyline of the Thai city of Udon Thani near the Laos border as workers lay cement for a new shopping mall, one of many illustrating a boom in the Thai economy beyond the bright lights of Bangkok.Full story

Nineteen baby Siamese crocodiles are being let loose in the wetlands of Laos, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) announced this week. The effort gives a boost to the critically endangered species, which is thought to include just 250 individuals in the wild. Full story

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Vietnam urged Laos to halt construction of a $3.5 billion hydropower dam pending further study, environmental activists said on Friday after a meeting of the Mekong River Commission. Full story

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North Korean teenagers, who returned to North Korea from Laos recently, attend round-table talks at the Koryo Hall of Compatriots in Pyongyang on June 20, 2013 in this picture released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on June 21, 2013. North Korea on June 5, 2013 accused South Korean act

Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (L-R), Myanmar's President Thein Sein and Laos' Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong listen to a speech by World Economic Forum Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab during the opening ceremony of the WEF on East Asia, at the Myanmar International Conv